The 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted 9 days, from 3 May 1926 to 12 May 1926.[1] It was called by the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British government to act to prevent wage reduction and worsening conditions for 1.2 million locked-out coal miners. Some 1.7 million workers went out, especially in transport and heavy industry. The government was prepared and enlisted middle class volunteers to maintain essential services. There was little violence and the TUC gave up in defeat. In the long run, there was little impact on trade union activity or industrial relations. Keith Laybourn says that historians mostly agree that, "In no significant way could the General Strike be considered a turning point or watershed in British industrial history."[2]

Contents

The First World War: The heavy domestic use of coal in the war meant that rich seams were depleted. Britain exported less coal in the war than it would have done in peacetime, allowing other countries to fill the gap. The United States, Poland and Germany and their strong coal industries benefited, in particular.[3]

Coal production was at its lowest ebb. Output per man had fallen to just 199 tonnes in 1920–1924, from 247 tonnes in the four years before the war, and a peak of 310 tons in the early 1880s.[4] Total coal output had been falling since 1914.[5]

The fall in coal prices resulting from the 1924 Dawes Plan. It allowed Germany to re-enter the international coal market by exporting "free coal" to France and Italy, as part of their reparations for the First World War.

The reintroduction of the gold standard in 1925 by Winston Churchill, which made the British pound too strong for effective exporting to take place from Britain and (because of the economic processes involved in maintaining a strong currency) raised interest rates, hurting some businesses.

Mine owners wanted to maintain profits even during times of economic instability, which often took the form of wage reductions for miners in their employ. Coupled with the prospect of longer working hours, the industry was thrown into disarray.

Miners' pay had lowered from £6.00 to £3.90 over seven years.

Special Committee of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress at Downing Street, ready to discuss the mining crisis with Baldwin

Mine owners announced that their intention was to reduce miners' wages. The Miners Federation of Great Britain rejected the terms: "Not a penny off the pay, not a minute on the day." The Trades Union Congress responded to the news by promising to support the miners in their dispute. The Conservative government, under Stanley Baldwin, decided to intervene by declaring that a nine-month subsidy would be provided to maintain the miners' wages and that a Royal Commission, under the chairmanship of Sir Herbert Samuel, would look into the problems of the mining industry and consider its impact on other industries, families and organisations dependent on coal supplies industry.

The Samuel Commission published a report on 10 March 1926 recommending that national agreements, the nationalisation of royalties and sweeping reorganisation and improvement should be considered for the mining industry.[6] It also recommended a reduction by 13.5% of miners' wages, along with the withdrawal of the government subsidy.[7] Two weeks later, the prime minister announced that the government would accept the report if other parties also did.[8]

A previous royal commission, the Sankey Commission, had recommended nationalisation a few years earlier to deal with the problems of productivity and profitability in the industry, but Prime Minister Lloyd George rejected the report.

After the Samuel Commission's report, the mine owners declared that miners would be offered new terms of employment, which included lengthening the work day and reducing wages depending on various factors. The Miners' Federation of Great Britain refused the wage reduction and regional negotiation.

The final negotiations began on 1 May but failed to achieve an agreement, leading to an announcement by the TUC that a general strike "in defence of miners' wages and hours" was to begin on 3 May,[9] a Monday, at one minute to midnight.[10]

The leaders of the British Labour Party were unhappy about the proposed general strike because they were aware of the revolutionary elements within the union movement and of the damage that the association would do to the party's new reputation as a party of government. During the next two days, frantic efforts were made to reach an agreement between the government and the mining industry representatives. However, they failed, mainly because [11] of an eleventh-hour decision by printers of the Daily Mail to refuse to print an editorial ("For King and Country") condemning the general strike. They objected to the following passage: "A general strike is not an industrial dispute. It is a revolutionary move which can only succeed by destroying the government and subverting the rights and liberties of the people".

Baldwin was now concerned about the TUC and printers' action interfering with the freedom of the press.

King George V tried to stabilise the situation and create balance saying, "Try living on their wages before you judge them."[12]

The government had been preparing for the strike over the nine months in which it had provided a subsidy by creating organisations such as the Organisation for the Maintenance of Supplies, and it did whatever it could to keep the country moving. It rallied support by emphasizing the revolutionary nature of the strikers. The armed forces and volunteer workers helped maintain basic services. It used the Emergency Powers Act 1920 to maintain essential supplies.

On 4 May 1926, the number of strikers was about 1.5–1.75 million. There were strikers "from John o' Groats to Land's End". The' reaction to the strike call was immediate and overwhelming and surprised both the government and the TUC; the latter not being in control of the strike. On this first day, there were no major initiatives and no dramatic events except for the nation's transport being at a standstill.

“Constitutional Government is being attacked. Let all good citizens whose livelihood and labour have thus been put in peril bear with fortitude and patience the hardships with which they have been so suddenly confronted. Stand behind the Government, who are doing their part, confident that you will cooperate in the measures they have undertaken to preserve the liberties and privileges of the people of these islands. The laws of England are the people's birthright. The laws are in your keeping. You have made Parliament their guardian. The General Strike is a challenge to Parliament and is the road to anarchy and ruin.”

On 5 May 1926, both sides gave their views. Churchill (at that time Chancellor of the Exchequer) commented as editor of the government newspaper British Gazette: "I do not agree that the TUC have as much right as the Government to publish their side of the case and to exhort their followers to continue action. It is a very much more difficult task to feed the nation than it is to wreck it". Baldwin wrote, "The general strike is a challenge to the parliament and is the road to anarchy". The British Worker, the TUC's newspaper, wrote: "We are not making war on the people. We are anxious that the ordinary members of the public shall not be penalized for the unpatriotic conduct of the mine owners and the government".

In the meantime, the government put in place a "militia" of special constables called the Organisation for the Maintenance of Supplies (OMS) of volunteers to maintain order in the street. A special constable said: "It was not difficult to understand the strikers' attitude toward us. After a few days I found my sympathy with them rather than with the employers. For one thing, I had never realized the appalling poverty which existed. If I had been aware of all the facts, I should not have joined up as a special constable".[13] It was decided that Fascists would not be allowed to enlist in the OMS without first giving up their political beliefs, as the government feared a right-wing backlash so the fascists formed the so-called "Q Division" under Rotha Lintorn-Orman to combat the strikers.

On 6 May 1926, there was a change of atmosphere. The government newspaper, British Gazette, suggested that means of transport began to improve with volunteers and strikebreakers, stating on the front page that there were '200 buses on the streets'.[14] They were, however, figures of propaganda, as there were in fact only 86 buses running.[15]

On 7 May 1926, the TUC met with Samuel and worked out a set of proposals designed to end the dispute. The Miners' Federation rejected the proposals. The British Worker was increasingly difficult to operate, as Churchill had requisitioned the bulk of the supply of the paper's newsprint so it reduced its size from eight pages to four.[16] In the meantime, the government took action to protect the men who decided to return to work.

On 8 May 1926, there was a dramatic moment on the London Docks. Lorries were protected by the army. They broke the picket line and transported food to Hyde Park. That showed that the government was in greater control of the situation. It was also a measure of Baldwin's rationalism, in place of Churchill's more reactionary stance. Churchill had wanted, in a move that could have proved unnecessarily antagonistic to the strikers, to arm the soldiers. Baldwin, however, had insisted otherwise.

On 11 May 1926, the Flying Scotsman was derailed by strikers near Newcastle upon Tyne.[17] The British Worker, alarmed at the fears of the General Council of the TUC that there was to be a mass drift back to work, claimed: "The number of strikers has not diminished; it is increasing. There are more workers out today than there have been at any moment since the strike began".

However, the National Sailors' and Firemen's Union applied for an injunction in the Chancery Division of the High Court to enjoin the General-Secretary of its Tower Hill branch from calling its members out on strike. Mr Justice Astbury granted the injunction by ruling that no trade dispute could exist between the TUC and "the government of the nation"[18] and that except for the strike in the coal industry, the general strike was not protected by Trade Disputes Act 1906. In addition, he ruled that the strike in the plaintiff union had been called in contravention of its own rules.[19] As a result, the unions involved became liable, by common law, for incitement to breach of contract and faced potential sequestration of their assets by employers.

On 12 May 1926, the TUC General Council visited 10 Downing Street to announce its decision to call off the strike if the proposals worked out by the Samuel Commission were respected and the government offered a guarantee there would be no victimization of strikers. The government stated that it had "no power to compel employers to take back every man who had been on strike". However, the TUC agreed to end the dispute without such an agreement.

The miners maintained resistance for a few months before being forced, by their own economic needs, to return to the mines. By the end of November, most miners were back at work. However, many remained unemployed for many years. Those still employed were forced to accept longer hours, lower wages and district wage agreements. The strikers felt that they had achieved nothing.

The effect on British coal mines was profound. By the late 1930s, employment in mining had fallen by more than a third from its pre-strike peak of 1.2 million miners, but productivity had rebounded from under 200 tons produced per miner, to over 300 tons by the outbreak of the Second World War.[20]

The split in the miners that resulted from Spencerism and the agreement of the Nottinghamshire miners to return to work, against the policy of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain divided the coal miners as a national bargaining force until the establishment of the National Union of Mineworkers.

In some mining areas, strikebreakers were ostracised in their communities for the rest of their lives, and some were still being referred to as scabs at the time of the 1984-5 strike.[21][self-published source]

In the long run, there was little impact on trade union activity or industrial relations. The TUC and the trade union movement remained intact and did not change their basic policies. Keith Laybourn says that historians mostly agree that "In no significant way could the General Strike be considered a turning point or watershed in British industrial history."[22] It was the only general strike in British history, as union leaders such as Ernest Bevin, who had coordinated the strike, considered it a mistake. They decided that action by political parties was a better solution.[23] However, the country came close to a one-day general strike on 31 July 1972. over the imprisonment of the Pentonville Five.[24]

The strike functions as the "endpiece" of the satirical novel, The Apes of God, by Wyndham Lewis. In that novel, the half-hearted nature of the strike, and its eventual collapse, represents the political and moral stagnation of 1920s Britain.

In James Hilton's 1934 novel Goodbye, Mr. Chips, the retired schoolmaster Chipping calls the strike "a very fine advertisement" since there was "not a life lost" and "not a shot fired".

The strike is constantly mentioned in David Peace's book GB84, in which the older characters often mention the 1926 strike to draw parallels with the long miners' strike of 1984-5.

The General Strike is mentioned in J B Priestley's play 'An Inspector Calls' (1947), enabling readers to date the action of the play to 1930.

The fourth series of the BBC2 television show Peaky Blinders (TV series) is set in the period immediately prior to and during the General Strike, emphasizing the involvement of revolutionary communist elements.

^"Heslop describes the miner's involvement in the General Strike of 1926 in The Gate of a Strange Field...."Rosemary M. Colt and Janice Rossen, Writers of the Old School: British Novelists of the 1930s. Springer, 1992. ISBN1349118273. (p.46)

^"Ellen Wilkinson's first novel, Clash, explores the playing out of this [class] war during the week of the General Strike in May 1926..." Nicola Wilson, Home in British Working-Class Fiction. Routledge, ISBN1317121368, 2016 (p.81)

1.
Tyldesley
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Tyldesley is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. It is north of Chat Moss near the foothills of the West Pennine Moors,7.7 miles east-southeast of Wigan and 8.9 miles west-northwest of Manchester. At the United Kingdom Census 2001, Tyldesley including the areas of Astley, Shakerley, Mosley Common. In 2011 the Tyldesley ward of Wigan Council had a population of 14,341, historically in Lancashire, Tyldesley and its surroundings have provided evidence for the remains of a Roman road passing through the township on its ancient course between Coccium and Mamucium. Tyldesley meaning Tilwalds clearing is derived from the Old English personal name Tilwald and leăh a wood, the name was recorded as Tildesleiha in 1210. Alternative spellings include Tildeslei, Tildeslege, Tildeslegh and Tildesley, the land rises from 100 feet at the foot of the banks to 250 feet at the highest point. Tyldesley is pronounced Til-slee, and locally known as Bongs, in local pronunciation Banks was corrupted to Bongs. The old name for Mosley Common was the Hurst or Tyldesleyhurst, the remains of a Roman road serving camps at Coccium and Mamucium passed through the area. It ran from Keeper Delph in Boothstown crossing Mort Lane north west of Cleworth Hall, the road continued towards the Valley at Atherton where coins have been found, and on towards Gibfield and Wigan. In 1947, two urns containing about 550 Roman bronze coins, minted between AD259 and AD278, were found near the old Tyldesley–Worsley border, the coins are in the British Museum. After the end of Roman rule in Britain and into the history of Anglo-Saxon England, evidence for the presence of Saxons is provided by place names incorporating the Old English suffix leah, such as Tyldesley, Shakerley, and Astley. The manor house was Astley Hall which, in 1212, was home to Hugh Tyldesley and it is just inside the Tyldesley boundary but has been associated with Astley since the death of Henry Tyldesley in 1301, when the manor was divided among three sons. The Tyldesleys had a reputation for lawlessness and who had frequent disputes with their neighbours, one exception was Hugh Tyldesley, Hugh the Pious, who endowed Cockersand Abbey with land in Shakerley before his death in 1226. The moated New Hall in the Park of Tyldesley, close to the old house was in existence before 1422 when it belonged to Thomas Tyldesley. The new manor, known as the Garrett, was owned by John Tyldesley in 1505, the timber-framed Garrett Hall remained with the Tyldesleys until 1652 when Lambert Tyldesley died leaving no heir. The new owners, the Stanleys, leased it to tenant farmers, in 1732 it was sold to Thomas Clowes who also leased the property to tenants. In 1829 the estate was bought by the Bridgewater Trustees, the township had several other significant houses. Generations of the Shakerley family lived in Shakerley Old Hall, close to the Shakerley Brook, in medieval times they paid rent to Cockersand Abbey and dues of one pair of white gloves at the feast of Easter to Adam Tyldesley

2.
General strike
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A general strike is a strike action in which a substantial proportion of the total labour force in a city, region, or country participates. General strikes are characterised by the participation of workers in a multitude of workplaces, General strikes first occurred in the mid-19th century, and have characterised many historically important strikes. An early predecessor of the strike may have been the secessio plebis in ancient Rome. In the Outline Of History, H. G. Wells recorded the general strike of the plebeians, the plebeians seem to have invented the strike, which now makes its first appearance in history. Wells noted that he made a mean use of their political advantages to grow rich through the national conquests at the expense not only of the defeated enemy. The plebeians, who were expected to obey the laws, but were not allowed to know the laws, were successful, in 450 BC. in a concession resulting from the rebellion of the plebeians, the laws of Rome were written for all to peruse. The general strike action became a feature of the political landscape with the onset of the Industrial Revolution. For the first time in history, large numbers of people were members of the working class, they lived in cities. By the 1830s, when the Chartist movement was at its peak, the first theorist to formulate and popularise the idea of a general strike for the purpose of political reform was the radical pamphleteer William Benbow. On 28 January 1832 Benbow published a pamphlet entitled Grand National Holiday, Benbow began to advocate direct and even violent action for political reform, in particular he advanced his idea for a national holiday and national convention. The striking workers were to support themselves with savings and confiscated parish funds, benbows idea of a Grand National Holiday was adopted by the Chartist Congress of 1839, Benbow having spent time in Manchester during 1838-9 promoting his the cause and his pamphlet. In 1842 the demands for wages and conditions across many different industries finally exploded into the first modern general strike. Instead of being a spontaneous uprising of the masses, the strike was politically motivated and was driven by a hard-headed agenda to win concessions. Probably as much as half of the industrial work force were on strike at its peak - over 500,000 men. The local leadership marshaled a growing working class tradition to politically organise their followers to mount a challenge to the capitalist. The mass abandonment of plantations by black slaves and poor whites during the American Civil War has, controversially, in his classic history Black Reconstruction in America, W. E. B. The trickling streams of fugitives swelled to a flood, once begun, the general strike of black and white went madly and relentlessly on like some great saga. The next large scale strike took place over half a century later in Belgium

3.
Government of the United Kingdom
–
Her Majestys Government, commonly referred to as the UK government or British government, is the central government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The government is led by the Prime Minister, who all the remaining ministers. The prime minister and the other most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision-making committee, the government ministers all sit in Parliament, and are accountable to it. After an election, the monarch selects as prime minister the leader of the party most likely to command a majority of MPs in the House of Commons. Under the uncodified British constitution, executive authority lies with the monarch, although this authority is exercised only by, or on the advice of, the prime minister, the Cabinet members advise the monarch as members of the Privy Council. They also exercise power directly as leaders of the Government Departments, the current prime minister is Theresa May, who took office on 13 July 2016. She is the leader of the Conservative Party, which won a majority of seats in the House of Commons in the election on 7 May 2015. Prior to this, Cameron and the Conservatives led a government from 2010 to 2015 with the Liberal Democrats. A key principle of the British Constitution is that the government is responsible to Parliament, Britain is a constitutional monarchy in which the reigning monarch does not make any open political decisions. All political decisions are taken by the government and Parliament and this constitutional state of affairs is the result of a long history of constraining and reducing the political power of the monarch, beginning with the Magna Carta in 1215. Parliament is split into two houses, the House of Lords and the House of Commons, the House of Commons is the lower house and is the more powerful. The House of Lords is the house and although it can vote to amend proposed laws. Parliamentary time is essential for bills to be passed into law, Ministers of the Crown are responsible to the House in which they sit, they make statements in that House and take questions from members of that House. For most senior ministers this is usually the elected House of Commons rather than the House of Lords, since the start of Edward VIIs reign, in 1901, the prime minister has always been an elected member of Parliament and therefore directly accountable to the House of Commons. Under the British system the government is required by convention and for reasons to maintain the confidence of the House of Commons. It requires the support of the House of Commons for the maintenance of supply, by convention if a government loses the confidence of the House of Commons it must either resign or a General Election is held. The support of the Lords, while useful to the government in getting its legislation passed without delay, is not vital, a government is not required to resign even if it loses the confidence of the Lords and is defeated in key votes in that House. The House of Commons is thus the Responsible house, the prime minister is held to account during Prime Ministers Question Time which provides an opportunity for MPs from all parties to question the PM on any subject

4.
Coal mining
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Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its content, and, since the 1880s, has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore, in the United Kingdom and South Africa a coal mine and its structures are a colliery, a coal mine a pit, the above-ground structures the pit head. In Australia, colliery generally refers to a coal mine. In the United States colliery has been used to describe a coal mine operation, Coal mining has had many developments over the recent years, from the early days of men tunnelling, digging and manually extracting the coal on carts, to large open cut and long wall mines. Mining at this scale requires the use of draglines, trucks, conveyors, hydraulic jacks, small-scale mining of surface deposits dates back thousands of years. For example, in Roman Britain, the Romans were exploiting most of the major coalfields by the late 2nd century AD. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Britain in the 18th century and later spread to continental Europe, international trade expanded rapidly when coal-fed steam engines were built for the railways and steamships. Until the late nineteenth century coal was mined using a pick and shovel. Coal-cutting machines were introduced in the 1880s, by 1912, surface mining was conducted with steam shovels designed for coal mining. The most economical method of extraction from coal seams depends on the depth and quality of the seams. Coal mining processes are differentiated by whether they operate on the surface or underground, many coals extracted from both surface and underground mines require washing in a coal preparation plant. Surface mining and deep underground mining are the two methods of mining. Coal that occurs at depths of 180 to 300 ft are usually deep mined, for example, some western U. S. coal that occur at depths in excess of 200 ft are mined by the open pit methods, due to thickness of the seam 60–90 feet. Coals occurring below 300 ft are usually deep mined, However, there are open pit mining operations working on coal seams up to 1000–1500 feet below ground level, for instance Tagebau Hambach in Germany. When coal seams are near the surface, it may be economical to extract the coal using open cut mining methods, open cast coal mining recovers a greater proportion of the coal deposit than underground methods, as more of the coal seams in the strata may be exploited. In this mining method, explosives are first used in order to break through the surface or overburden, the overburden is then removed by draglines or by shovel and truck. Once the coal seam is exposed, it is drilled, fractured, the coal is then loaded onto large trucks or conveyors for transport to either the coal preparation plant or directly to where it will be used

5.
First World War
–
World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany

6.
United States
–
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci

7.
Poland
–
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church

8.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed

9.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks

10.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world

11.
Gold standard
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A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. Three types can be distinguished, specie, bullion, and exchange, the gold bullion standard is a system in which gold coins do not circulate, but the authorities agree to sell gold bullion on demand at a fixed price in exchange for the circulating currency. The gold exchange standard usually does not involve the circulation of gold coins. This creates a de facto standard, where the value of the means of exchange has a fixed external value in terms of gold that is independent of the inherent value of the means of exchange itself. Most nations abandoned the standard as the basis of their monetary systems at some point in the 20th century. An estimated total of 174,100 tonnes of gold have been mined in human history and this is roughly equivalent to 5.6 billion troy ounces or, in terms of volume, about 9,261 cubic metres, or a cube 21 metres on a side. There are varying estimates of the volume of gold mined. One reason for the variance is that gold has been mined for thousands of years, another reason is that some nations are not particularly open about how much gold is being mined. In addition, it is difficult to account for the output in illegal mining activities. World production for 2011 was at 2,700 tonnes, since the 1950s, annual gold output growth has approximately kept pace with world population growth of around 2x, although far less than world economic growth of some 8x, or some 4x since 1980. The gold specie standard arose from the acceptance of gold as currency. Various commodities have been used as money, typically, the one that loses the least value over time becomes the accepted form, the use of gold as money began thousands of years ago in Asia Minor. During the early and high Middle Ages, the Byzantine gold solidus, commonly known as the bezant, was used widely throughout Europe, however, as the Byzantine Empires economic influence declined, so too did the use of the bezant. In its place, European territories chose silver as its currency over gold, Silver pennies based on the Roman denarius became the staple coin of Mercia in Great Britain around the time of King Offa, circa CE 757–796. Similar coins, including Italian denari, French deniers, and Spanish dineros circulated in Europe, Spanish explorers discovered silver deposits in Mexico in 1522 and at Potosí in Bolivia in 1545. International trade came to depend on such as the Spanish dollar, the Maria Theresa thaler, and later. In modern times, the British West Indies was one of the first regions to adopt a gold specie standard, following Queen Annes proclamation of 1704, the British West Indies gold standard was a de facto gold standard based on the Spanish gold doubloon. A formal gold specie standard was first established in 1821, when Britain adopted it following the introduction of the sovereign by the new Royal Mint at Tower Hill in 1816

12.
Winston Churchill
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Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill KG OM CH TD PC DL FRS RA was a British statesman who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historian. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 for his overall, in 1963, he was the first of only eight people to be made an honorary citizen of the United States. Churchill was born into the family of the Dukes of Marlborough and his father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was a charismatic politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer, his mother, Jennie Jerome, was an American socialite. As a young officer, he saw action in British India, the Anglo–Sudan War. He gained fame as a war correspondent and wrote books about his campaigns, at the forefront of politics for fifty years, he held many political and cabinet positions. Before the First World War, he served as President of the Board of Trade, Home Secretary, during the war, he continued as First Lord of the Admiralty until the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign caused his departure from government. He then briefly resumed active service on the Western Front as commander of the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers. He returned to government under Lloyd George as Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War, Secretary of State for Air, at the outbreak of the Second World War, he was again appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. Following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain on 10 May 1940, Churchill became Prime Minister and he led Britain as Prime Minister until victory over Nazi Germany had been secured. After the Conservative Party suffered a defeat in the 1945 general election. He publicly warned of an Iron Curtain of Soviet influence in Europe, after winning the 1951 election, Churchill again became Prime Minister. His second term was preoccupied by foreign affairs, including the Malayan Emergency, Mau Mau Uprising, Korean War, domestically his government laid great emphasis on house-building. Churchill suffered a stroke in 1953 and retired as Prime Minister in 1955. Upon his death aged ninety in 1965, Elizabeth II granted him the honour of a state funeral and his highly complex legacy continues to stimulate intense debate amongst writers and historians. Born into the family of the Dukes of Marlborough, a branch of the noble Spencer family, Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, like his father. His ancestor George Spencer had changed his surname to Spencer-Churchill in 1817 when he became Duke of Marlborough, to highlight his descent from John Churchill, Churchill was born on 30 November 1874, two months prematurely, in a bedroom in Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire. From age two to six, he lived in Dublin, where his grandfather had been appointed Viceroy, Churchills brother, John Strange Spencer-Churchill, was born during this time in Ireland

13.
Interest rate
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An interest rate, is the amount of interest due per period, as a proportion of the amount lent, deposited or borrowed. The total interest on an amount lent or borrowed depends on the sum, the interest rate, the compounding frequency. It is defined as the proportion of an amount loaned which a lender charges as interest to the borrower and it is the rate a bank or other lender charges to borrow its money, or the rate a bank pays its savers for keeping money in an account. Annual interest rate is the rate over a period of one year, other interest rates apply over different periods, such as a month or a day, but they are usually annualised. A company borrows capital from a bank to buy assets for its business, in return, the bank charges the company interest. Base rate usually refers to the rate offered on overnight deposits by the central bank or other monetary authority. Annual percentage rate and effective annual rate or annual equivalent rate are used to help consumers compare products with different payment structures on a common basis, a discount rate is applied to calculate present value. Interest rate targets are a tool of monetary policy and are taken into account when dealing with variables like investment, inflation. The central banks of countries tend to reduce interest rates when they wish to increase investment. In the past two centuries, interest rates have been variously set either by national governments or central banks, during an attempt to tackle spiraling hyperinflation in 2007, the Central Bank of Zimbabwe increased interest rates for borrowing to 800%. Possibly before modern capital markets, there have been some accounts that savings deposits could achieve a return of at least 25%. Political short-term gain, Lowering interest rates can give the economy a short-run boost, under normal conditions, most economists think a cut in interest rates will only give a short term gain in economic activity that will soon be offset by inflation. The quick boost can influence elections, Most economists advocate independent central banks to limit the influence of politics on interest rates. Deferred consumption, When money is loaned the lender delays spending the money on consumption goods, since according to time preference theory people prefer goods now to goods later, in a free market there will be a positive interest rate. Inflationary expectations, Most economies generally exhibit inflation, meaning a given amount of money buys fewer goods in the future than it will now, the borrower needs to compensate the lender for this. Alternative investments, The lender has a choice between using his money in different investments, if he chooses one, he forgoes the returns from all the others. Different investments effectively compete for funds, risks of investment, There is always a risk that the borrower will go bankrupt, abscond, die, or otherwise default on the loan. This means that a lender generally charges a premium to ensure that, across his investments

14.
Working time
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Working time is the period of time that a person spends at paid labor. Unpaid labor such as personal housework or caring for children or pets is not considered part of the working week, many countries regulate the work week by law, such as stipulating minimum daily rest periods, annual holidays, and a maximum number of working hours per week. Working time may vary person to person, often depending on location, culture, lifestyle choice. For example, someone who is supporting children and paying a large mortgage will need to work hours to meet basic costs of living than someone of the same earning power without children. Because fewer people than ever are having children, choosing part time work is becoming more popular, standard working hours refers to the legislation to limit the working hours per day, per week, per month or per year. If an employee needs to work overtime, the employer will need to pay overtime payments to employees as required in the law. Generally speaking, standard working hours of countries worldwide are around 40 to 44 hours per week, maximum working hours refers to the maximum working hours of an employee. The employee cannot work more than the level specified in the working hours law. Kung Bushmen was estimated to work two-and-a-half days per week. Aggregated comparisons show that on average the working day was less than five hours, subsequent studies in the 1970s examined the Machiguenga of the Upper Amazon and the Kayapo of northern Brazil. Popular perception is still aligned with the old consensus that hunter-gatherers worked far in excess of modern humans forty-hour week. Peasants and farm laborers moved from areas to work in urban factories. Before collective bargaining and worker protection laws, there was an incentive for a company to maximize the return on expensive machinery by having long hours. Records indicate that work schedules as long as twelve to sixteen hours per day, recent articles supporting a four-day week have argued that reduced work hours would increase consumption and invigorate the economy. However, other state that consumption would decrease. Other arguments for the week include improvements to workers level of education. Reduced hours also save money on day care costs and transportation and these benefits increase workforce productivity on a per-hour basis. The workweek, in most of the world, dropped steadily. The limitation of working hours is also proclaimed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the decline continued at a faster pace in Europe, for example, France adopted a 35-hour workweek in 2000

15.
Miners Federation of Great Britain
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The federation was reorganised into the National Union of Mineworkers in 1945. In 1888 after colliery owners rejected a call for a pay rise from the Yorkshire Miners Association, at the conference held in the Temperance Hall in Newport, South Wales in November 1889, the Miners Federation of Great Britain was formed. Ben Pickard of the Yorkshire Miners Association was elected president and Sam Woods of the Lancashire and Cheshire Miners Federation its vice-president, enoch Edwards from the Midland Counties Miners Federation was its first treasurer and Thomas Ashton, also from the LCMF, its first secretary. Keir Hardie was one of the Scottish delegates at the conference, the federations membership increased by 30% in its first year and by 1890 its member federations had 250,000 members. The Northumberland Miners Association and the Durham Miners Association initially refused to join, most of the MFGBs founding officials were still in control in 1910 by which time the membership was more than 600,000. Membership peaked in 1920 when it had more than 945,000 members, in 1926 the membership dropped to 756,000 and had declined to about 530,000 in 1930. The organisation was renamed the Mineworkers Federation of Great Britain in 1932, reflecting the creation of groups for enginemen, firemen, electricians, the MFGB joined the Trades Union Congress in 1890. In 1893,300,000 colliery workers were locked out when the owners demanded they take a 25% cut in pay. Six weeks into the dispute, two men were killed at a colliery in Featherstone in Yorkshire after the Riot Act had been read, the strike ended nine weeks later after the mine owners backed down. The MFGB participated in the 1906 Royal Commission on mines safety, improving miners working conditions was important to the federation and Robert Smillie represented it in the Royal Commission on mines safety that led to the Mines Regulation Act in 1911. A lock out in 1910 by Cambrian Collieries in South Wales in a dispute about wage cuts led to a strike by 12,000 men. Home Secretary, Winston Churchill, sent troops to Tonypandy where they charged a group of striking miners with fixed bayonets on 21 November, the strikers returned to work defeated but a conference in 1911 called for a minimum wage. The demand led to the six-week-long National coal strike of 1912 in which more than one million miners participated, the onset of World War I in 1914 led to calls for the repeal of the eight-hour day and increased productivity. South Wales miners struck in 1915 and increased pay was demanded in 1916 resulting in the coalfields being put into state control, in 1914 the MFGB had joined with the National Union of Railwaymen and the National Transport Workers Federation in the Triple Alliance. In 1921 a decision by the NUR and NTWF not to strike in sympathy with the miners is remembered as Black Friday, pressure for wage cuts in 1925 plunged the MFGB into crisis. The government backed the colliery owners and the TUC backed the miners, the government proposed setting up a commission and provided a subsidy to maintain wages at the July 1925 level. The commission took no representations from the MFGB and the government built up coal supplies until the report was published in March 1926. The MFGB rejected the proposals and its general secretary A. J. Cook coined the slogan, Not a penny off the pay

16.
Trades Union Congress
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The Trades Union Congress is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in England and Wales, representing the majority of trade unions. There are fifty-one affiliated unions with a total of about 5.8 million members, the TUC refers to themselves as the voice of Britain at work. The current General Secretary is Frances OGrady, the TUCs decision-making body is the Annual Congress, which takes place in September. Between congresses decisions are made by the General Council, which every two months. An Executive Committee is elected by the Council from its members, affiliated unions can send delegates to Congress, with the number of delegates they can send proportionate to their size. Each year Congress elects a President of the Trades Union Congress, the TUC is not affiliated to the Labour Party. At election time the TUC cannot endorse a particular party by name, however it can point to policies that it believes would be positive for workers’ rights, or to social cohesion and community welfare. It can also politically campaign against policies that it believes would be injurious to workers, the TUC also runs the Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum and annual Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival and Rally commemorating the Tolpuddle Martyrs and their impact on trade unionism. The TUC Library preserves documents related to history in Britain. It was established in 1922 and now focuses on expanding the online, the TUC archives are held at the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick Library. The archive contains files from c1920 -1991 consisting of correspondence, internal and external documents, minutes, reports, printed material, the TUC campaigns on a wide range of issues relating to the experience of people at work. Notably, the TUC succeeded in forcing Sports Direct to undergo an independent review into their treatment of workers in September 2016, in October 2016, the TUCs campaign against the Trade Union Bill won Best Public Affairs Campaign at the PR Week Awards. The TUCs Campaign Priorities for 2016-17 are,1, working people must not pay the price of the vote to leave the EU2. Standing up for abandoned communities 3, reaching out to young workers 5. Building a stronger movement after the union act In 1948 the NHS was created as a result of union campaigning. In 1970 the Equal Pay Act made it illegal for employers to give a woman worker different pay, in 1999 the National Minimum Wage was established to protect low-paid workers. In 1999 a limit was placed on working hours, largely as a health and this was quickly followed by a minimum holiday entitlement. In 2007 the no-smoking ban was introduced in areas in response to union arguments that workers were risking their health

17.
Conservative Party (UK)
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The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a political party in the United Kingdom. It is currently the party, having won a majority of seats in the House of Commons at the 2015 general election. The partys leader, Theresa May, is serving as Prime Minister. It is the largest party in government with 8,702 councillors. The Conservative Party is one of the two major political parties in the United Kingdom, the other being its modern rival. The Conservative Partys platform involves support for market capitalism, free enterprise, fiscal conservatism, a strong national defence, deregulation. In the 1920s, the Liberal vote greatly diminished and the Labour Party became the Conservatives main rivals, Conservative Prime Ministers led governments for 57 years of the twentieth century, including Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher. Thatchers tenure led to wide-ranging economic liberalisation, the Conservative Partys domination of British politics throughout the twentieth century has led to them being referred to as one of the most successful political parties in the Western world. The Conservatives are the joint-second largest British party in the European Parliament, with twenty MEPs, the party is a member of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe Europarty and the International Democrat Union. The party is the second-largest in the Scottish Parliament and the second-largest in the Welsh Assembly, the party is also organised in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The Conservative Party traces its origins to a faction, rooted in the 18th century Whig Party and they were known as Independent Whigs, Friends of Mr Pitt, or Pittites. After Pitts death the term Tory came into use and this was an allusion to the Tories, a political grouping that had existed from 1678, but which had no organisational continuity with the Pittite party. From about 1812 on the name Tory was commonly used for the newer party, the term Conservative was suggested as a title for the party by a magazine article by J. Wilson Croker in the Quarterly Review in 1830. The name immediately caught on and was adopted under the aegis of Sir Robert Peel around 1834. Peel is acknowledged as the founder of the Conservative Party, which he created with the announcement of the Tamworth Manifesto, the term Conservative Party rather than Tory was the dominant usage by 1845. In 1912, the Liberal Unionists merged with the Conservative Party, in Ireland, the Irish Unionist Alliance had been formed in 1891 which merged anti-Home Rule Unionists into one political movement. Its MPs took the Conservative whip at Westminster, and in essence formed the Irish wing of the party until 1922. The Conservatives served with the Liberals in an all-party coalition government during World War I, keohane finds that the Conservatives were bitterly divided before 1914, especially on the issue of Irish Unionism and the experience of three consecutive election losses

18.
Stanley Baldwin
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Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, KG, PC, JP, FRS was a British Conservative politician, who dominated the government in his country between the two world wars. Three times Prime Minister, he is the premier to have served under three monarchs. Baldwin first entered the House of Commons in 1908 as the Member of Parliament for Bewdley and he held government office in the coalition ministry of David Lloyd George. Upon Bonar Laws resignation due to reasons in May 1923, Baldwin became Prime Minister. He called an election on the issue of tariffs and lost the Conservatives majority, after winning the 1924 General Election Baldwin formed his second government, which saw important tenures of office by Sir Austen Chamberlain, Winston Churchill and Neville Chamberlain. The latter two ministers strengthened Conservative appeal by reforms in areas associated with the Liberal Party. They included industrial conciliation, unemployment insurance, a more extensive old-age pension system, slum clearance, more private housing, Baldwin narrowly lost the 1929 General Election and his continued leadership of the party was subject to extensive criticism by the press barons Lord Rothermere and Lord Beaverbrook. In 1931, Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald formed a National Government, most of whose ministers were Conservatives and which won an enormous majority at the 1931 General Election. As Lord President of the Council, and one of four Conservatives among the small ten-member Cabinet and this government saw an Act delivering increased self-government for India, a measure opposed by Churchill and by many rank-and-file Conservatives. The Statute of Westminster 1931 gave Dominion status to Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, as party leader, Baldwin made many striking innovations, such as clever use of radio and film, that made him highly visible to the public and strengthened Conservative appeal. During this time, he oversaw the beginning of the rearmament process of the British military, Baldwin retired in 1937 and was succeeded by Neville Chamberlain. By 2004, however, historians generally painted a positive portrait of his governments. Less equivocal was his rediscovery as a moderate and inclusive Conservative for the modern age, Modern scholars generally rank him in the upper half of British Prime Ministers. The family was prosperous, and owned the eponymous iron and steel making business that in later became part of Richard Thomas. Baldwin then went on to the University of Cambridge, where he studied history at Trinity College. His time at university was blighted by the presence, as Master of Trinity, of Montagu Butler, his former headmaster who had punished him at Harrow for writing a piece of schoolboy smut. He was asked to resign from the Magpie & Stump for never speaking and his father sent him to Mason College for one session of technical training in metallurgy as preparation. As a young man he served briefly as a Second Lieutenant in the Artillery Volunteers at Malvern, Baldwin married Lucy Ridsdale on 12 September 1892

19.
Herbert Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel
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Herbert Louis Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel GCB OM GBE PC, was a British Liberal politician who was the party leader from 1931-35. He was the first nominally practising Jew—although noted for his personal atheism—to serve as a Cabinet minister, Samuel was the last member of the Liberal Party to hold one of the four Great Offices of State. He also served as a diplomat, one of the adherents of New Liberalism, Samuel helped to draft and present social reform legislation while serving as a Liberal cabinet member. Herbert Samuel was born at Claremont No.11 Belvidere Road, Toxteth, Liverpool, Lancashire, the building now houses part of the Belvedere Academy. He was the brother of Sir Stuart Samuel, educated at University College School in Hampstead, London and Balliol College, Oxford. He had a Jewish upbringing, but in 1892, while at Oxford he renounced all religious belief, Samuel worked through the influence of Charles Darwin and the book On Compromise by senior Liberal politician John Morley. He remained a member of the Jewish community, however, to please his wife, and kept kosher, Samuel unsuccessfully fought two general elections before being elected a Member of Parliament at the Cleveland by-election,1902, as a member of the Liberal Party. He put forward the idea of establishing a British Protectorate over Palestine in 1915, in December 1916 Asquith was replaced as Prime Minister by Lloyd George. Lloyd George asked Samuel to continue as Home Secretary, but Samuel chose to resign instead and he attempted to strike a balance between giving support to the new government while remaining loyal to Asquith. At the end of the war he sought election at the election of 1918 as a Liberal in support of the Coalition government. However, the endorsement was given to his Unionist opponent. Initially he had not been a supporter of womens suffrage but changed his position, in 1917 a Speakers Conference was charged with looking into giving women the vote but did not have as its terms of reference, consideration to women standing as candidates for parliament. However, Samuel moved a motion on 23 October 1918 to allow women to be eligible as Members of Parliament. The vote was passed by 274 to 25 and the government rushed through a Bill to make it law in time for the 1918 General Election, according to Weizmanns memoirs, Samuel was already an avid believer in Zionism, and believed that Weizmanns demands were too modest. Samuel did not want to enter into a discussion of his plans. One month later, Samuel circulated a memorandum entitled The Future of Palestine to his cabinet colleagues, in 1917, Britain occupied Palestine during the course of the First World War. Samuel lost his seat in the election of 1918 and became a candidate to represent British interests in the territory and he was appointed to the position of High Commissioner in 1920, before the Council of the League of Nations approved a British mandate for Palestine. Nonetheless, the government withdrew to Cairo in preparation for the expected British Mandate

20.
David Lloyd George
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David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman. As Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lloyd George was a key figure in the introduction of reforms which laid the foundations of the modern welfare state. His most important role came as the highly energetic Prime Minister of the Wartime Coalition Government, during and he was a major player at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 that reordered Europe after the defeat of the Central Powers. He made an impact on British public life than any other 20th-century leader. Furthermore, in foreign affairs he played a role in winning the First World War, redrawing the map of Europe at the peace conference. His main political problem was that he was not loyal to his Liberal party—he was always a political maverick, while he was Prime Minister he favoured the Conservatives in his coalition in the 1918 elections, leaving the Liberal party as a hopeless minority. He became leader of the Liberal Party in the late 1920s, by the 1930s he was a marginalised and widely mistrusted figure. He gave weak support to the Second World War amidst fears that he was favourable toward Germany, Lloyd George was born on 17 January 1863 in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester, to Welsh parents, and was brought up as a Welsh-speaker. He is so far the only British Prime Minister to have been Welsh and his father, William George, had been a teacher in both London and Liverpool. He also taught in the Hope Street Sunday Schools, which were administered by the Unitarians, in March of the same year, on account of his failing health, William George returned with his family to his native Pembrokeshire. He took up farming but died in June 1864 of pneumonia, Lloyd George was educated at the local Anglican school Llanystumdwy National School and later under tutors. He added his uncles surname to become Lloyd George and his surname is usually given as Lloyd George and sometimes as George. The influence of his childhood showed through in his entire career, brought up a devout evangelical, as a young man he suddenly lost his religious faith. Biographer Don Cregier says he became a Deist and perhaps an agnostic, though he remained a chapel-goer and he kept quiet about that, however, and was hailed as one of the foremost fighting leaders of a fanatical Welsh Nonconformity. It was also during this period of his life that Lloyd George first became interested in the issue of land ownership, by the age of twenty-one, he had already read and taken notes on Henry Georges Progress and Poverty. This strongly influenced Lloyd Georges politics later in life through the Peoples Budget which heavily drew on the georgist tax reform ideas, the practice flourished, and he established branch offices in surrounding towns, taking his brother William into partnership in 1887. Although many Prime Ministers have been barristers, Lloyd George is to date the only solicitor to have held that office, by then he was politically active, having campaigned for the Liberal Party in the 1885 election, attracted by Joseph Chamberlains unauthorised programme of reforms. The election resulted firstly in a stalemate with neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives having a majority, William Gladstones proposal to bring about Irish Home Rule split the party, with Chamberlain eventually leading the breakaway Liberal Unionists

21.
Coal
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Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure. Coal is composed primarily of carbon, along with quantities of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen. A fossil fuel, coal forms when plant matter is converted into peat, which in turn is converted into lignite, then sub-bituminous coal, after that bituminous coal. This involves biological and geological processes that take place over time, throughout history, coal has been used as an energy resource, primarily burned for the production of electricity and heat, and is also used for industrial purposes, such as refining metals. Coal is the largest source of energy for the generation of electricity worldwide, the extraction of coal, its use in energy production and its byproducts are all associated with environmental and health effects including climate change. Coal is extracted from the ground by coal mining, since 1983, the worlds top coal producer has been China. In 2015 China produced 3,747 million tonnes of coal –47. 7% of 7,861 million tonnes world coal production, in 2015 other large producers were United States, India, European Union and Australia. The word originally took the col in Old English, from Proto-Germanic *kula. In Old Turkic languages, kül is ash, cinders, öčür is quench, the compound charcoal in Turkic is öčür kül, literally quenched ashes, cinders, coals with elided anlaut ö- and inflection affixes -ülmüş. At various times in the geologic past, the Earth had dense forests in low-lying wetland areas, due to natural processes such as flooding, these forests were buried underneath soil. As more and more soil deposited over them, they were compressed, the temperature also rose as they sank deeper and deeper. As the process continued the plant matter was protected from biodegradation and oxidation and this trapped the carbon in immense peat bogs that were eventually covered and deeply buried by sediments. Under high pressure and high temperature, dead vegetation was slowly converted to coal, as coal contains mainly carbon, the conversion of dead vegetation into coal is called carbonization. The wide, shallow seas of the Carboniferous Period provided ideal conditions for coal formation, the exception is the coal gap in the Permian–Triassic extinction event, where coal is rare. Coal is known from Precambrian strata, which predate land plants — this coal is presumed to have originated from residues of algae, in its dehydrated form, peat is a highly effective absorbent for fuel and oil spills on land and water. It is also used as a conditioner for soil to make it able to retain. Lignite, or brown coal, is the lowest rank of coal, jet, a compact form of lignite, is sometimes polished and has been used as an ornamental stone since the Upper Palaeolithic

22.
British Labour Party
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The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Labour later served in the coalition from 1940 to 1945. Labour was also in government from 1964 to 1970 under Harold Wilson and from 1974 to 1979, first under Wilson and then James Callaghan. The Labour Party was last in government from 1997 to 2010 under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, beginning with a majority of 179. Having won 232 seats in the 2015 general election, the party is the Official Opposition in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the party also organises in Northern Ireland, but does not contest elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Labour Party is a member of the Party of European Socialists and Progressive Alliance. In September 2015, Jeremy Corbyn was elected Leader of the Labour Party, the first Lib–Lab candidate to stand was George Odger in the Southwark by-election of 1870. In addition, several small socialist groups had formed around this time, among these were the Independent Labour Party, the intellectual and largely middle-class Fabian Society, the Marxist Social Democratic Federation and the Scottish Labour Party. In the 1895 general election, the Independent Labour Party put up 28 candidates, Keir Hardie, the leader of the party, believed that to obtain success in parliamentary elections, it would be necessary to join with other left-wing groups. Hardies roots as a lay preacher contributed to an ethos in the party led to the comment by 1950s General Secretary Morgan Phillips that Socialism in Britain owed more to Methodism than Marx. The motion was passed at all stages by the TUC, the meeting was attended by a broad spectrum of working-class and left-wing organisations—trades unions represented about one third of the membership of the TUC delegates. This created an association called the Labour Representation Committee, meant to coordinate attempts to support MPs sponsored by trade unions and it had no single leader, and in the absence of one, the Independent Labour Party nominee Ramsay MacDonald was elected as Secretary. He had the task of keeping the various strands of opinions in the LRC united. The October 1900 Khaki election came too soon for the new party to campaign effectively, only 15 candidatures were sponsored, but two were successful, Keir Hardie in Merthyr Tydfil and Richard Bell in Derby. Support for the LRC was boosted by the 1901 Taff Vale Case, the judgement effectively made strikes illegal since employers could recoup the cost of lost business from the unions. In their first meeting after the election the groups Members of Parliament decided to adopt the name The Labour Party formally, the Fabian Society provided much of the intellectual stimulus for the party. One of the first acts of the new Liberal Government was to reverse the Taff Vale judgement, the Peoples History Museum in Manchester holds the minutes of the first Labour Party meeting in 1906 and has them on display in the Main Galleries. Also within the museum is the Labour History Archive and Study Centre, the governing Liberals were unwilling to repeal this judicial decision with primary legislation

23.
Daily Mail
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The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust and published in London. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982, Scottish and Irish editions of the daily paper were launched in 1947 and 2006 respectively. A survey in 2014 found the age of its reader was 58. It had a daily circulation of 1,510,824 copies in November 2016. Its website has more than 100 million unique visitors per month, the Daily Mail has been accused of racism, and printing sensationalist and inaccurate scare stories of science and medical research. The Mail was originally a broadsheet but switched to a format on 3 May 1971. On this date it absorbed the Daily Sketch, which had been published as a tabloid by the same company. The publisher of the Mail, the Daily Mail and General Trust, is currently a FTSE250 company, the paper has a circulation of around two million, which is the fourth largest circulation of any English-language daily newspaper in the world. Circulation figures according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations in March 2014 show gross daily sales of 1,708,006 for the Daily Mail. According to a December 2004 survey, 53% of Daily Mail readers voted for the Conservative Party, compared to 21% for Labour, the main concern of Viscount Rothermere, the current chairman and main shareholder, is that the circulation be maintained. The Mail has been edited by Paul Dacre since 1992, the Daily Mail, devised by Alfred Harmsworth and his brother Harold, was first published on 4 May 1896. It cost a halfpenny at a time when other London dailies cost one penny, and was more populist in tone and more concise in its coverage than its rivals. The planned issue was 100,000 copies but the print run on the first day was 397,215, Lord Salisbury, 19th-century Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, dismissed the Daily Mail as a newspaper produced by office boys for office boys. By 1902, at the end of the Boer Wars, the circulation was over a million, from the beginning, the Mail also set out to entertain its readers with human interest stories, serials, features and competitions. In 1900 the Daily Mail began printing simultaneously in both Manchester and London, the first national newspaper to do so, the same production method was adopted in 1909 by the Daily Sketch, in 1927 by the Daily Express and eventually by virtually all the other national newspapers. Printing of the Scottish Daily Mail was switched from Edinburgh to the Deansgate plant in Manchester in 1968 and, for a while, in 1987, printing at Deansgate ended and the northern editions were thereafter printed at other Associated Newspapers plants. In 1906 the paper offered £1,000 for the first flight across the English Channel, punch magazine thought the idea preposterous and offered £10,000 for the first flight to Mars, but by 1910 both the Mails prizes had been won. Before the outbreak of World War I, the paper was accused of warmongering when it reported that Germany was planning to crush the British Empire

24.
George V of the United Kingdom
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George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. He was the son of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. From the time of his birth, he was third in the line of succession behind his father and his own brother, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence. From 1877 to 1891, George served in the Royal Navy, on the death of his grandmother in 1901, Georges father became King-Emperor of the British Empire, and George was created Prince of Wales. He succeeded his father in 1910 and he was the only Emperor of India to be present at his own Delhi Durbar. His reign saw the rise of socialism, communism, fascism, Irish republicanism, the Parliament Act 1911 established the supremacy of the elected British House of Commons over the unelected House of Lords. In 1917, George became the first monarch of the House of Windsor, in 1924 he appointed the first Labour ministry and in 1931 the Statute of Westminster recognised the dominions of the Empire as separate, independent states within the Commonwealth of Nations. He had health problems throughout much of his reign and at his death was succeeded by his eldest son. George was born on 3 June 1865, in Marlborough House and he was the second son of the Prince and Princess of Wales, Albert Edward and Alexandra. His father was the eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and he was baptised at Windsor Castle on 7 July 1865 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles Longley. As a younger son of the Prince of Wales, there was expectation that George would become king. He was third in line to the throne, after his father and elder brother, George was only 17 months younger than Albert Victor, and the two princes were educated together. John Neale Dalton was appointed as their tutor in 1871, neither Albert Victor nor George excelled intellectually. For three years from 1879, the brothers served on HMS Bacchante, accompanied by Dalton. They toured the colonies of the British Empire in the Caribbean, South Africa and Australia, and visited Norfolk, Virginia, as well as South America, the Mediterranean, Egypt, Dalton wrote an account of their journey entitled The Cruise of HMS Bacchante. Between Melbourne and Sydney, Dalton recorded a sighting of the Flying Dutchman, after Lausanne, the brothers were separated, Albert Victor attended Trinity College, Cambridge, while George continued in the Royal Navy. He travelled the world, visiting many areas of the British Empire, during his naval career he commanded Torpedo Boat 79 in home waters then HMS Thrush on the North America station, before his last active service in command of HMS Melampus in 1891–92. From then on, his rank was largely honorary

25.
Transport and General Workers' Union
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It was founded in 1922, and its first general secretary was Ernest Bevin. In 2007, it merged with Amicus to form Unite the Union, at the time of its creation in 1922, the TGWU was the largest and most ambitious amalgamation brought about within trade unionism. Its structure combined regional organisation, based on Districts and Areas, with committee organisation by occupation, Trade groups were not closely linked to trades, but were elected by activists. Officials of the union were grouped by region, and could be asked to each or any trade group. From the 1960s it was known as ACTS but also sometimes as the ACTSS. The Greenock Sugar Porters Union, Dundee Flax and Jute Stowers Society, National Union of British Fishermen, the Amalgamated Carters, Lurrymen and Motormens Union merged with the Transport and General Workers Union in 1922. It had previously had an arrangement with the United Vehicle Workers. Lurry was a spelling of lorry, and the spelling lorrymen is also seen in the unions documents. Several specialised and other unions voted later to merge with the TGWU, including The Workers Union in 1929, for a full list, see the list of TGWU amalgamations. The Transport and General Workers Union spearheaded the campaign for the registration of Gangmasters in the UK, the ballot of both unions membership during February and early March 2007, also approved the merger. The result of the ballot was announced on 8 March 2007,86.4 per cent of T&G members and 70.1 per cent of Amicus members voted to support the merger, from a turnout of 27%. The press release announced that the union had the working title New Union. However, on 2 April 2007, The Times reported that the name Unite had been chosen

26.
Ironworker
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An ironworker is the US term for a tradesman who works in the ironworking industry. Ironworkers assemble the structural framework in accordance with engineered drawings, Ironworkers load, unload, place and set machinery and equipment and operate power hoists, forklifts, and aerial lifts. They unload, place and fasten metal decking, safety netting, Ironworkers finish buildings by erecting curtain wall and window wall systems, pre-cast concrete and stone, stairs and handrails, metal doors, sheeting and elevator fronts. Ironworkers perform all types of maintenance as well. Historically ironworkers mainly worked with iron, but today they utilize many different materials including ferrous and non-ferrous metals, plastics, glass, concrete. Practically overnight, bridge carpenters became ironworkers during the 1880s and it was seen as a new, exciting job for pioneers in America despite its dangerous drawbacks. For about two dollars per day, a worker could risk his life on high structures, with the industrial revolution, the production of cast iron parts brought about the use of cranes. This heavy equipment was used in the early 1900s to construct high level structures and this new technology brought about a special form of trade workers called ironworkers. They used the crane to lift steel girders into place, the mortality rate of men working in this trade was the highest of all trades, and the ironworker could be lucky to go 10 years without a serious or fatal injury. In the late 19th century, the International Union of Ironworkers would emerge from concern for safety on-the-job and the lack of protection from employers. The Unions first order of business was to give widows of ironworkers $50 to cover the costs of a funeral, with the increase in benefits from unionization, the Union greatly increased its presence in numbers in the early 1900s. Approximately 10,000 workers were considered Ironworkers through the Union, in the early 1900s, during the third great immigration wave the Ironworker wage in real 2010 US dollars was $9.50 to $12 per hour. However, following the destruction of manufacturing complexes - with the exception of North America,1956 wages for structural, ornamental. By 1970, through the Coldwar buildup, iron worker wages peaked at $44.80, with the end of the Coldwar buildup in 1991, Ironworker rates have since stayed constant and were $29.30 an hour in 2002. In 2010 the mean wage for Ohio ironworkers, both union and nonunion, is $24.66 per hour, the 75th percentile for the nation is 29, about 10% of all ironworkers in the US are Mohawks, down from about 15% earlier in the 20th century. There are three types of ironworks, reinforcing, structural, and ornamental. A reinforcing ironworker, colloquially known as a Rodbuster, works with reinforcing bars to make based on a certain design. Reinforcing ironworkers assemble structures with reinforcing bars by tying the bars together with tie wire and they place the rebar inside of forms, so concrete can be poured over top of them to form a solid structure

27.
Steelworker
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Steel is an alloy of iron and other elements, primarily carbon, that is widely used in construction and other applications because of its high tensile strength and low cost. Steels base metal is iron, which is able to take on two forms, body centered cubic and face centered cubic, depending on its temperature. It is the interaction of those allotropes with the elements, primarily carbon. In the body-centred cubic arrangement, there is an atom in the centre of each cube. Carbon, other elements, and inclusions within iron act as hardening agents that prevent the movement of dislocations that otherwise occur in the lattices of iron atoms. The carbon in steel alloys may contribute up to 2. 1% of its weight. Steels strength compared to pure iron is possible at the expense of irons ductility. With the invention of the Bessemer process in the mid-19th century and this was followed by Siemens-Martin process and then Gilchrist-Thomas process that refined the quality of steel. With their introductions, mild steel replaced wrought iron, further refinements in the process, such as basic oxygen steelmaking, largely replaced earlier methods by further lowering the cost of production and increasing the quality of the product. Today, steel is one of the most common materials in the world and it is a major component in buildings, infrastructure, tools, ships, automobiles, machines, appliances, and weapons. Modern steel is generally identified by various grades defined by assorted standards organizations, the noun steel originates from the Proto-Germanic adjective stakhlijan, which is related to stakhla. The carbon content of steel is between 0. 002% and 2. 1% by weight for plain iron–carbon alloys and these values vary depending on alloying elements such as manganese, chromium, nickel, iron, tungsten, carbon and so on. Basically, steel is an alloy that does not undergo eutectic reaction. In contrast, cast iron does undergo eutectic reaction, too little carbon content leaves iron quite soft, ductile, and weak. Carbon contents higher than those of steel make an alloy, commonly called pig iron, while iron alloyed with carbon is called carbon steel, alloy steel is steel to which other alloying elements have been intentionally added to modify the characteristics of steel. Common alloying elements include, manganese, nickel, chromium, molybdenum, boron, titanium, vanadium, tungsten, cobalt, and niobium. Additional elements are important in steel, phosphorus, sulfur, silicon, and traces of oxygen, nitrogen, and copper. Alloys with a higher than 2. 1% carbon content, depending on other element content, cast iron is not malleable even when hot, but it can be formed by casting as it has a lower melting point than steel and good castability properties

28.
Emergency Powers Act 1920
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The Emergency Powers Act 1920 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that gave the Sovereign power, in certain circumstances, to declare a state of emergency by proclamation. The Act also authorised emergency regulations to be issued by Order in Council, passed during the time in office of the Lloyd George Coalition Government, the Act made permanent the powers of the war-time Defence of the Realm Acts. The Act did not apply to Ireland, where due to the War of Independence the Restoration of Order in Ireland Act 1920 was already in force, the exact grounds for such a proclamation by the monarch are defined in the Act as. Such regulations would be laid before Parliament as soon as they were pronounced and would expire in seven days, unless Parliament decided otherwise, a proclamation of this sort could be in force for no more than one month. Anyone who broke these regulations, the Act says, regulations could not allow punishment by either fine or prison without trial. The Act was first put into use in 1921 when the Triple Alliance called a strike over a wage dispute, the Lloyd George government declared a state of emergency and sent troops to the strikers areas. Three days later on 21 April the Triple Alliance called off the strike, the Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald was tempted to use the Act in 1924 when the dockers and tramwaymen went on strike. The use of the Act has been described as instrumental in the resolution of the strike in the governments favour. The Conservative government used the Act during the 1955 rail strike, during the Conservative government of Edward Heath there were five declarations of emergency under this Act, by far the most any government. In the total time it was on the book this Act was used twelve times. This Act was amended by the Emergency Powers Act 1964 and superseded by the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, the army are shown as using their powers to harass suspected Communists and their families, and to confiscate food sent as donations to feed striking miners

29.
Land's End to John o' Groats
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Lands End to John o Groats is the traversal of the whole length of the island of Great Britain between two extremities, in the southwest and northeast. The traditional distance by road is 874 miles and takes most cyclists ten to fourteen days, off-road walkers typically walk about 1,200 miles and take two or three months for the expedition. Two much-photographed signposts indicate the distance at each end. Lands End is the extreme point of Great Britain, situated in western Cornwall at the end of the Penwith peninsula. Grid Reference SW342250, Post Code TR19 7AA, the most southerly point is Lizard Point. John o Groats is the traditionally acknowledged extreme northern point of mainland Scotland, in northeastern Caithness, grid Reference ND380735, Post Code KW1 4YR. The actual northernmost point is at nearby Dunnet Head, the point that is actually farthest by road from Lands End is Duncansby Head, about 2 miles from John o Groats. The straight-line distance from Lands End to John o Groats is 603 miles as determined from O. S, grid References, but such a route passes over a series of stretches of water in the Irish Sea. According to a 1964 road atlas, the shortest route using classified roads was 847 miles but in a 2008 road atlas, there are many ways to go from Lands End to John o Groats. Traditionally considered to be a walk, the route is now traversed in a number of ways, with cycling, most trips are done by individuals or small groups for personal fulfilment. Some expeditions are organised as charity fundraisers, sometimes involving celebrities, examples include cricketer Ian Bothams 1985 walk, in recent history the route has been used as a rite of passage by cyclists taking on the most iconic and toughest cycling challenge in Britain. The first recorded end-to-end walk was undertaken by the brothers John, since then the walk has been undertaken many times, more particularly since 1960, after a well-publicised road walk by Dr Barbara Moore. In 1960 the entrepreneur Billy Butlin organised a road walking race, since the 1960s, walkers have mostly chosen off-road routes, using the growing network of long-distance footpaths. A classic account is from 1966 by the travel writer John Hillaby, off-road walkers usually complete the journey in two to three months. There is a choice of off-road routes, but all are much longer than the shortest road distance. The walk is still undertaken by road walkers, often doing the walk, like Sir Ian Botham, for charity and they typically take a month or even less. Some walkers aim to complete the route piecemeal, perhaps several years, to achieve the walk within the time constraints of a working life. There is no continuous path from Lands End to John o Groats

30.
Chancellor of the Exchequer
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The office is a British Cabinet-level position. The chancellor is responsible for all economic and financial matters, equivalent to the role of Secretary of the Treasury or Minister of Finance in other nations. The position is considered one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor of the Exchequer is now always Second Lord of the Treasury as one of the Lords Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Treasurer. Formerly, in cases when the Chancellorship was vacant, the Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench would act as Chancellor pro tempore, the last Lord Chief Justice to serve in this way was Lord Denman in 1834. The earliest surviving records which are the results of the audit, date from 1129–30 under King Henry I. The Chancellor controlled monetary policy as well as fiscal policy until 1997, the Chancellor also has oversight of public spending across Government departments. The current Chancellor of the Exchequer is Philip Hammond and he is entrusted with a certain amount of misery which it is his duty to distribute as fairly as he can. The Chancellor has considerable control over other departments as it is the Treasury which sets Departmental Expenditure Limits, the amount of power this gives to an individual Chancellor depends on his personal forcefulness, his status within his party and his relationship with the Prime Minister. Gordon Brown, who became Chancellor when Labour came into Government in 1997, had a personal power base in the party. One part of the Chancellors key roles involves the framing of the annual year budget, as of 2017, the first is the Autumn Budget, also known as Budget Day which forecasts government spending in the next financial year and also announces new financial measures. The second is a Spring Statement, also known as a mini-Budget, britains tax year has retained the old Julian end of year,24 March /5 April. From 1993, the Budget was in spring, preceded by an annual autumn statement. This was then called Pre-Budget Report, the Autumn Statement usually took place in November or December. The 1997,2001,2002,2003,2006,2007,2008,2012 and 2016 Budgets were all delivered on a Wednesday, although the Bank of England is responsible for setting interest rates, the Chancellor also plays an important part in the monetary policy structure. He sets the target which the Bank must set interest rates to meet. Under the Bank of England Act 1998 the Chancellor has the power of appointment of four out of nine members of the Banks Monetary Policy Committee – the so-called external members. The Act also provides that the Government has the power to give instructions to the Bank on interest rates for a period in extreme circumstances. This power has never officially used. At HM Treasury the Chancellor is supported by a team of four junior ministers

31.
Anarchy
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Anarchy is the condition of a society, entity, group of people, or a single person that rejects hierarchy. The term originally meant leaderlessness, but in 1840, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon adopted the term in his treatise What Is Property, to refer to a new political philosophy, anarchism, which advocates stateless societies based on voluntary associations. In practical terms, anarchy can refer to the curtailment or abolition of traditional forms of government and it could also mean a nation or anywhere on earth that is inhabited, that has no system of government or central rule. The word anarchy comes from the ancient Greek ἀναρχία, which combines ἀ, not, without and ἀρχή, ruler, leader, thus, the term refers to a person or society without rulers or without leaders. The German philosopher Immanuel Kant treated anarchy in his Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View as consisting of Law and Freedom without Force. Thus, for Kant, anarchy falls short of being a civil state because the law is only an empty recommendation if force is not included to make this law efficacious. For there to be such a state, force must be included while law and freedom are maintained, Kant identified four kinds of government, Law and freedom without force. Anarchism is a philosophy that advocates self-governed societies based on voluntary institutions. These are often described as stateless societies, although several authors have defined them more specifically as institutions based on non-hierarchical free associations, Anarchism holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, or harmful. While anti-statism is central, anarchism entails opposing authority or hierarchical organisation in the conduct of all relations, including, but not limited to. There are many types and traditions of anarchism, not all of which are mutually exclusive, Anarchist schools of thought can differ fundamentally, supporting anything from extreme individualism to complete collectivism. Strains of anarchism have been divided into the categories of social, some individualist anarchists are also socialists or communists while some anarcho-communists are also individualists or egoists. Anarchism as a movement has regularly endured fluctuations in popularity. Since the 1890s, the term libertarianism has been used as a synonym for anarchism and was used almost exclusively in this sense until the 1950s in the United States, right-libertarians are divided into minarchists and anarcho-capitalists or voluntarists. Outside the English-speaking world, libertarianism generally retains its association with left-wing anarchism, many of these societies can be considered to be anarchic in the sense that they explicitly reject the idea of centralized political authority. The egalitarianism typical of human hunter-gatherers is interesting when viewed in an evolutionary context, one of humanitys two closest primate relatives, the chimpanzee, is anything but egalitarian, forming hierarchies that are dominated by alpha males. In Society Against the State Pierre Clastres examines stateless societies where cultural practices and attitudes avert the development of hierarchy. He dismisses the notion that the state is the outcome of the evolution of human societies

32.
Militia
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For instance, the members of some U. S. Army National Guard units are considered professional soldiers, as they are trained to maintain the same standards as their full-time counterparts. Militias thus can be military or paramilitary, depending on the instance, some of the contexts in which the term militia is used include, Forces engaged in defense activity or service, to protect a community, its territory, property, and laws. The entire able-bodied population of a community, town, county, or state, a subset of these who may be legally penalized for failing to respond to a call-up. A subset of these who actually respond to a call-up, regardless of legal obligation, a private, non-government force, not necessarily directly supported or sanctioned by its government. An irregular armed force enabling its leader to exercise military, economic, an official reserve army, composed of citizen soldiers. Called by various names in different countries, such as the Army Reserve, National Guard, the national police forces in several former communist states such as the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact countries, but also in the non-aligned SFR Yugoslavia. The term was inherited in Russia and other former CIS countries, in France the equivalent term Milice has become tainted due to its use by notorious collaborators with Nazi Germany. A select militia is composed of a small, non-representative portion of the population, as regular military forces were insufficient to counter the British attackers, Santiago de Liniers drafted all males in the city capable of bearing arms into the military. These recruits included the peoples, who ranked low down in the social hierarchy. With these reinforcements, the British armies were twice defeated, the militias became a strong factor in the politics of the city afterwards, as a springboard from which the criollos could manifest their political ambitions. They were a key element in the success of the May Revolution, a decree by Mariano Moreno derogated the system of promotions involving criollos, allowing instead their promotion on military merit. The Argentine Civil War was waged by militias again, as both federalists and unitarians drafted common people into their ranks as part of ongoing conflicts and these irregular armies were organized at a provincial level, and assembled as leagues depending on political pacts. This system had declined by the 1870s, mainly due to the establishment of the modern Argentine Army, provincial militias were outlawed and decimated by the new army throughout the presidential terms of Mitre, Sarmiento, Avellaneda and Roca. Armenian militia also played a role in the Georgia-Abkhazia War of 1992–1993, in the Colony of New South Wales Governor Lachlan Macquarie proposed a colonial militia but the idea was rejected. Governor Ralph Darling felt a mounted force was more efficient than a militia. A military volunteer movement attracted wide interest during the Crimean War, following Federation, the various military reserve forces of the Commonwealth of Australia became the Citizen Military Force. In the beginning, members didnt have uniforms and often paraded in business attire and they were given instruction on guerrilla warfare, and later the private organization was taken over by the Australian Government and became part of the Australian Military Forces. After World War I, multiple militias formed as soldiers returned home to their villages, only to many of them occupied by Slovene

33.
Special constable
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A special constable or special police constable is a law enforcement officer. Many police departments are complemented by a Special Constabulary which are referred to as constables or informally as specials. Special constables hold full police powers and hold the office of constable, Special Constables, as appointed under the Police Act 1901, have the same powers as Constables of the New South Wales Police Force. Similar provisions apply in other Australian states, inspectors of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals are generally appointed as Special Constables. Members of police bands are also appointed as Special Constables, the NSW Police Force employs Special Constables as an armed internal security force. They also protect covert police locations and have a rapid deployment team with advanced firearms and defensive tactics training. Special Constables were used extensively in Canada prior to the Second World War to quell labour unrest, after the war, industrial relations became far less militant and many of the larger urban police forces created permanent auxiliary units. The most notorious use of Special Constables in Canadian history was during the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919, today, in Canada, the term Special Constable does not signify a police volunteer. Depending on the department some are members of a Special Constable Service as University, Housing, Special Constables for Federal Agencies are typically investigators for the Competition Bureau and Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Special Constable appointment is not a replacement for a police officer, the appointment confers limited authority and the jurisdictional police will still have overall law enforcement authority and responsibility regardless of the Special Constable. For example, on a university campus or a system, Special Constables may deal with crimes. Special Constables have the powers of an officer to enforce Federal Statutes. Special Constables are also utilized at many Ontario universities to provide a hybrid police-security service to their respective communities, in Ontario, Special Constables are generally not armed with firearms, the exception being police services and Niagara Parks Police. At times, provinces may need to swear in a police service to allow peace officer status. This is frequent with RCMP in Ontario as well as Sûreté du Québec in Quebec, cross jurisdictional issues can be alleviated with special constable appointments. The government may also appoint Special Constables, who only need the authority to serve summons and subpoenas, the Independent Investigations Office of British Columbia has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with all of the agencies which use Special Constables across British Columbia. Volunteers with provincial and municipal police departments in Canada are called Reserve or Auxiliary Constables, Hong Kong Police Force and the Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force are the only two police forces in Hong Kong during peacetime. However, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong can, pursuant to HK Laws, however, under section 41 of the same ordinance, Special Constables are not entitled to benefits, pays or pensions

34.
Fascists
–
Fascism /ˈfæʃɪzəm/ is a form of radical authoritarian nationalism that came to prominence in early 20th-century Europe. The first fascist movements emerged in Italy during World War I, opposed to liberalism, Marxism, and anarchism, fascism is usually placed on the far-right within the traditional left–right spectrum. Fascists saw World War I as a revolution that brought changes to the nature of war, society, the state. The advent of war and the total mass mobilization of society had broken down the distinction between civilians and combatants. A military citizenship arose in which all citizens were involved with the military in some manner during the war, Fascism rejects assertions that violence is automatically negative in nature, and views political violence, war, and imperialism as means that can achieve national rejuvenation. Fascists advocate a mixed economy, with the goal of achieving autarky through protectionist and interventionist economic policies. Since the end of World War II in 1945, few parties have openly described themselves as fascist, the descriptions neo-fascist or post-fascist are sometimes applied more formally to describe parties of the far right with ideologies similar to, or rooted in, 20th century fascist movements. The Italian term fascismo is derived from fascio meaning a bundle of rods and this was the name given to political organizations in Italy known as fasci, groups similar to guilds or syndicates. According to Mussolinis own account, the Fascist Revolutionary Party was founded in Italy in 1915, in 1919, Mussolini founded the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento in Milan, which became the Partito Nazionale Fascista two years later. The symbolism of the fasces suggested strength through unity, a rod is easily broken. Similar symbols were developed by different fascist movements, for example, historians, political scientists, and other scholars have long debated the exact nature of fascism. Each interpretation of fascism is distinct, leaving many definitions too wide or narrow, according to many scholars, fascism—especially once in power—has historically attacked communism, conservatism and parliamentary liberalism, attracting support primarily from the far right. Roger Griffin describes fascism as a genus of political ideology whose mythic core in its various permutations is a form of populist ultranationalism. Griffin describes the ideology as having three components, the rebirth myth, populist ultra-nationalism and the myth of decadence. Fascism is a revolutionary, trans-class form of anti-liberal, and in the last analysis. Fascist Philosophies vary by application, but remain distinct by one theoretic commonality, all traditionally fall into the far-right sector of any political spectrum, catalyzed by afflicted class identities over conventional social inequities. John Lukacs, Hungarian-American historian and Holocaust survivor, argues there is no such thing as generic fascism. He claims that National Socialism and Communism are essentially manifestations of populism, Fascism was influenced by both left and right, conservative and anti-conservative, national and supranational, rational and anti-rational

35.
Strikebreakers
–
A strikebreaker is a person who works despite an ongoing strike. Strikebreakers are usually individuals who are not employed by the prior to the trade union dispute. Strikebreakers may also refer to workers who cross picket lines to work, strikebreakers are employed worldwide, often occurring wherever workers go on strike or engage in related actions. However, strikebreakers are used far more frequently in the United States than in any industrialized country. The Mohawk Valley formula calls for the use of strikebreakers when dealing with striking employees, among human rights treaties, only the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights contains a clause protecting the right to strike. However, like the Social Charter of 1961, the Covenant permits each signatory country to abridge the right to strike, for example, the ILO has ruled that the right to strike is an intrinsic corollary of the right of association protected by Convention No.87. The ILO has also concluded striker replacement, while not in contravention of ILO agreements, carries with it significant risks for abuse, the European Social Charter of 1961 was the first international agreement to expressly protect the right to strike. However, the European Unions Community Charter of the Fundamental Social Rights of Workers permits EU member states to regulate the right to strike, japanese labor law significantly restricts the ability of both an employer and a union to engage in labor disputes. The law highly regulates labor relations to ensure peace and channel conflict into collective bargaining. It bans the use of strikebreakers, south Korea bans the use of strikebreakers, although the practice remains common. In most European countries, strikebreakers are rarely used, consequently, they are rarely if ever mentioned in most European national labor laws. As mentioned above, it is left to the European Union member states to determine their own policies, Germany has employment law that strongly protects worker rights, but trade unions and the right to strike are not regulated by statute. The Bundesarbeitsgericht and the Bundesverfassungsgericht have, however, issued a number of rulings which essentially regulate trade union activities such as strikes. Work councils, for example, may not strike at all, the widespread use of work councils, however, channels most labor disputes and reduces the likelihood of strikes. Recent efforts to enact a federal labor relations law that regulates strikes, lockouts. United Kingdom laws permit strikebreaking, and courts have significantly restricted the right of unions to punish members who act as strikebreakers, canada has federal industrial relations laws that strongly regulate the use of strikebreakers. In Quebec, the use of strikebreakers is illegal, but companies may try remain open with only managerial personnel, mexico has a federal labor law that requires companies to cease operations during a legal strike, effectively preventing the use of strikebreakers. The U. S. Supreme Court held in NLRB v. Mackay Radio & Telegraph Co.304 U. S.333 that an employer may not discriminate on the basis of union activity in reinstating employees at the end of a strike

36.
Flying Scotsman (train)
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The Flying Scotsman is an express passenger train service that has operated between Edinburgh and London, the capitals of Scotland and England via the East Coast Main Line. The service began in 1862, but it wasnt until 1924 that the name was officially adopted and it is currently operated by Virgin Trains East Coast. In 1860 the three established the East Coast Joint Stock for through services using common vehicles, and it is from this agreement that the Flying Scotsman came about. The first Special Scotch Express ran in 1862, with departures at 10,00 from the GNRs London Kings Cross. From 1896, the train was modernised, introducing such features as corridors between carriages, heating, and dining cars, as passengers could now take luncheon on the train, the York stop was reduced to 15 minutes, but the end-to-end journey time remained 8 1⁄2 hours. Like the earlier built for the service, this rolling stock was jointly owned by the three operating companies, and formed part of the pool known as the East Coast Joint Stock. In 1923, the railways of Britain were grouped into the Big Four, consequently, all three members of the East Coast Joint Stock became part of the newly formed London & North Eastern Railway. It was the LNER which, in 1924, officially renamed the 10,00 Special Scotch Express linking Edinburgh, to further publicise the train, a recently built A1 Class locomotive was named after the service, and put on display at the 1924 British Empire Exhibition. During the General Strike on 11 May 1926, the Flying Scotsman was derailed by strikers near Newcastle, the 1928 non-stop Flying Scotsman had improved catering and other on-board services - even a barbers shop. With the end of the limited speed agreement in 1932, journey time came down to 7 hours 30 minutes, the passageway, which ran along the right-hand side of the tender, was 5 feet high and 18 inches wide. Use of the tender for changing crews on the move in an A4 loco is shown in the 1953 British Transport Films Elizabethan Express. In the late 1950s, British Railways was committed to dieselisation, on 6 October 1958, it commenced to be hauled by Class 40s. In 1962 Class 55 Deltic took over, and the Deltic-hauled Flying Scotsman became a centrepiece of BR advertising, under BR, the Flying Scotsman ceased to be a non-stop train, calling at Newcastle, York and Peterborough. It is operated by an InterCity 225 Mallard set,91 class locomotive 91101 and Driving Van Trailer 82205 were turned out in a special maroon livery for the launch of the service. East Coast claimed that this was part of a policy to bring back named trains to restore a touch of glamour, however, for the first time in its history, it ran in one direction only, there is no northbound equivalent service. This schedule is maintained today Northbound, the fastest timetabled London to Edinburgh service now takes 4 hours 20 minutes, in October 2015,91101 and 82205 were revinyled in a new Flying Scotsman livery. The Flying Scotsman is the passenger service to run non-stop through Darlington. As a major link between the cities of England and Scotland, the Flying Scotsman was an extremely long and heavy train, especially in the days before road

Tyldesley
–
Tyldesley is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. It is north of Chat Moss near the foothills of the West Pennine Moors,7.7 miles east-southeast of Wigan and 8.9 miles west-northwest of Manchester. At the United Kingdom Census 2001, Tyldesley including the areas of Astley, Shakerley, Mosley Common. In 2011 the

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Marklands Buildings and Elliott Street

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Garrett Hall is now a farmhouse

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Miners outside the Miners Hall during the 1926 General Strike

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Tyldesley Town Hall, from 1924 the headquarters of the former Tyldesley Urban District Council. It was built as the Liberal Club in 1881.

General strike
–
A general strike is a strike action in which a substantial proportion of the total labour force in a city, region, or country participates. General strikes are characterised by the participation of workers in a multitude of workplaces, General strikes first occurred in the mid-19th century, and have characterised many historically important strikes

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Vorwärts announcing a general strike in Germany on 9 November 1918, at the beginning of the November Revolution.

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William Benbow pictured in Punch in 1848.

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Strike (1910) by Stanisław Lentz, National Museum in Warsaw.

4.
Syndicalism

Government of the United Kingdom
–
Her Majestys Government, commonly referred to as the UK government or British government, is the central government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The government is led by the Prime Minister, who all the remaining ministers. The prime minister and the other most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision-making co

1.
Main entrance of 10 Downing Street, the residence and offices of the First Lord of HM Treasury

Coal mining
–
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its content, and, since the 1880s, has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore, in the United Kingdom and South Africa a coal mine and its structures are a colliery, a coal mine a pi

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A painting depicting men leaving a UK colliery at the close of a shift.

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Surface coal mining in Wyoming in the United States.

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A coal mine in Bihar, India.

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A coal mine in Frameries, Belgium.

First World War
–
World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts i

1.
Clockwise from the top: The aftermath of shelling during the Battle of the Somme, Mark V tanks cross the Hindenburg Line, HMS Irresistible sinks after hitting a mine in the Dardanelles, a British Vickers machine gun crew wears gas masks during the Battle of the Somme, Albatros D.III fighters of Jagdstaffel 11

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Sarajevo citizens reading a poster with the proclamation of the Austrian annexation in 1908.

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This picture is usually associated with the arrest of Gavrilo Princip, although some believe it depicts Ferdinand Behr, a bystander.

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Serbian Army Blériot XI "Oluj", 1915.

United States
–
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean,

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Native Americans meeting with Europeans, 1764

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Flag

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The signing of the Mayflower Compact, 1620.

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The Declaration of Independence: the Committee of Five presenting their draft to the Second Continental Congress in 1776

Poland
–
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th larges

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Earliest known contemporary depiction of a Polish ruler; King Mieszko II Lambert of Poland being presented with a Liturgical book by Matilda of Swabia, 1025–1031

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Drawing of the Battle of Grunwald, which was fought against the German Order of Teutonic Knights, 15 July 1410

Germany
–
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular

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The Nebra sky disk is dated to c. 1600 BC.

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Flag

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Martin Luther (1483–1546) initiated the Protestant Reformation.

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Foundation of the German Empire in Versailles, 1871. Bismarck is at the center in a white uniform.

France
–
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territ

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One of the Lascaux paintings: a horse – Dordogne, approximately 18,000 BC

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Flag

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The Maison Carrée was a temple of the Gallo-Roman city of Nemausus (present-day Nîmes) and is one of the best preserved vestiges of the Roman Empire.

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With Clovis ' conversion to Catholicism in 498, the Frankish monarchy, elective and secular until then, became hereditary and of divine right.

Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is refe

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The Colosseum in Rome, built c. 70 – 80 AD, is considered one of the greatest works of architecture and engineering of ancient history.

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Flag

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The Iron Crown of Lombardy, for centuries symbol of the Kings of Italy.

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Castel del Monte, built by German Emperor Frederick II, UNESCO World Heritage site

Gold standard
–
A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. Three types can be distinguished, specie, bullion, and exchange, the gold bullion standard is a system in which gold coins do not circulate, but the authorities agree to sell gold bullion on demand at a fixed price in exchange f

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Two golden 20 kr coins from the Scandinavian Monetary Union, which was based on a gold standard. The coin to the left is Swedish and the right one is Danish.

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Gold certificates were used as paper currency in the United States from 1882 to 1933. These certificates were freely convertible into gold coins.

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Under a gold bullion standard, paper notes are convertible at a preset, fixed rate with gold bullion.

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William McKinley ran for president on the basis of the gold standard.

Winston Churchill
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Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill KG OM CH TD PC DL FRS RA was a British statesman who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historian. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 for his overall, in 1963, he was the first of only eight p

Interest rate
–
An interest rate, is the amount of interest due per period, as a proportion of the amount lent, deposited or borrowed. The total interest on an amount lent or borrowed depends on the sum, the interest rate, the compounding frequency. It is defined as the proportion of an amount loaned which a lender charges as interest to the borrower and it is the

Working time
–
Working time is the period of time that a person spends at paid labor. Unpaid labor such as personal housework or caring for children or pets is not considered part of the working week, many countries regulate the work week by law, such as stipulating minimum daily rest periods, annual holidays, and a maximum number of working hours per week. Worki

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1906 - Strike for the 8 working hours per day in France

Miners Federation of Great Britain
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The federation was reorganised into the National Union of Mineworkers in 1945. In 1888 after colliery owners rejected a call for a pay rise from the Yorkshire Miners Association, at the conference held in the Temperance Hall in Newport, South Wales in November 1889, the Miners Federation of Great Britain was formed. Ben Pickard of the Yorkshire Min

Trades Union Congress
–
The Trades Union Congress is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in England and Wales, representing the majority of trade unions. There are fifty-one affiliated unions with a total of about 5.8 million members, the TUC refers to themselves as the voice of Britain at work. The current General Secretary is Frances OGrady, the

1.
Tyldesley miners outside the Miners Hall during the 1926 general strike

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Trades Union Congress

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Make Poverty History banner in front of Congress House

Conservative Party (UK)
–
The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a political party in the United Kingdom. It is currently the party, having won a majority of seats in the House of Commons at the 2015 general election. The partys leader, Theresa May, is serving as Prime Minister. It is the largest party in government with 8,702 councillors

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Sir Robert Peel, twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and founder of the Conservative Party, as well as the 'most considered' first Prime Minister of the UK.

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Conservative Party

3.
Sir Winston Churchill, twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

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1929 poster attacking the Labour Party

Stanley Baldwin
–
Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, KG, PC, JP, FRS was a British Conservative politician, who dominated the government in his country between the two world wars. Three times Prime Minister, he is the premier to have served under three monarchs. Baldwin first entered the House of Commons in 1908 as the Member of Parliament for Bewdley and

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Baldwin in the 1920s

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The Old Schools of Harrow School

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Astley Hall near Kidderminster, Baldwin's home between 1902 and 1947

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Baldwin, unknown date

Herbert Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel
–
Herbert Louis Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel GCB OM GBE PC, was a British Liberal politician who was the party leader from 1931-35. He was the first nominally practising Jew—although noted for his personal atheism—to serve as a Cabinet minister, Samuel was the last member of the Liberal Party to hold one of the four Great Offices of State. He also ser

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The Right Honourable The Viscount Samuel GCB OM GBE PC

2.
Historic plaque on King George Street, Jerusalem, affixed in 1924 by Herbert Samuel during his term as High Commissioner of Palestine

David Lloyd George
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David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman. As Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lloyd George was a key figure in the introduction of reforms which laid the foundations of the modern welfare state. His most important role came as the highly energetic Prime Minister of the Wartime Coalition

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The Right Honourable The Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM KStJ PC

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Lloyd George in 1895

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David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill in 1907

Coal
–
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure. Coal is composed primarily of carbon, along with quantities of other el

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Anthracite coal

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Bituminous coal

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Coastal exposure of the Point Aconi Seam (Nova Scotia)

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Coal miner in Britain, 1942

British Labour Party
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The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Labour later served in the coalition from 1940 to 1945. Labour was also in government from 1964 to 1970 under Harold Wilson and from 1974 to 1979, first under Wilson and then James Callaghan. The Labour Party was last in government from 1997 to 2010 under Tony Blair and Gordon

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Keir Hardie, one of the Labour Party's founders and its first leader

2.
Labour Party

3.
Labour Party Plaque from Caroone House, 14 Farringdon Street

4.
Ramsay MacDonald: First Labour Prime Minister, 1924 and 1929–31

Daily Mail
–
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust and published in London. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982, Scottish and Irish editions of the daily paper were launched in 1947 and 2006 respectively. A survey in 2014 found the age of its reader was 58. It had a daily

1.
Daily Mail front page in August 2010.

2.
Advertisement by the Daily Mail for insurance against Zeppelin attacks during the First World War

3.
A page from the Daily Mail Silver Jubilee Issue, 1935

4.
The "Hurrah for the Blackshirts" article by Lord Rothermere

George V of the United Kingdom
–
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. He was the son of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. From the time of his birth, he was third in the line of succession behind his father and his own brother, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence. From 1877 to 1891, Georg

1.
Coronation portrait by Sir Luke Fildes, 1911

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George as a young boy, 1870

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George, 1893

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York Cottage at Sandringham House: George and his wife lived here from 1893 to 1926.

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Print shops in the 15th century per establishment date and book output

Transport and General Workers' Union
–
It was founded in 1922, and its first general secretary was Ernest Bevin. In 2007, it merged with Amicus to form Unite the Union, at the time of its creation in 1922, the TGWU was the largest and most ambitious amalgamation brought about within trade unionism. Its structure combined regional organisation, based on Districts and Areas, with committe

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Transport and General Workers' Union central office

2.
T&G

3.
Transport and General Workers' Union Bristol office

Ironworker
–
An ironworker is the US term for a tradesman who works in the ironworking industry. Ironworkers assemble the structural framework in accordance with engineered drawings, Ironworkers load, unload, place and set machinery and equipment and operate power hoists, forklifts, and aerial lifts. They unload, place and fasten metal decking, safety netting,

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This bridge is a common job for an ironworker

2.
Two ironworkers at work

Steelworker
–
Steel is an alloy of iron and other elements, primarily carbon, that is widely used in construction and other applications because of its high tensile strength and low cost. Steels base metal is iron, which is able to take on two forms, body centered cubic and face centered cubic, depending on its temperature. It is the interaction of those allotro

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The steel cable of a colliery winding tower

2.
Steels and other iron–carbon alloy phases

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Iron ore pellets for the production of steel

4.
A Bessemer converter in Sheffield, England

Emergency Powers Act 1920
–
The Emergency Powers Act 1920 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that gave the Sovereign power, in certain circumstances, to declare a state of emergency by proclamation. The Act also authorised emergency regulations to be issued by Order in Council, passed during the time in office of the Lloyd George Coalition Government, the Act

Land's End to John o' Groats
–
Lands End to John o Groats is the traversal of the whole length of the island of Great Britain between two extremities, in the southwest and northeast. The traditional distance by road is 874 miles and takes most cyclists ten to fourteen days, off-road walkers typically walk about 1,200 miles and take two or three months for the expedition. Two muc

1.
Signpost at Land's End

2.
Signpost at John o' Groats

3.
Tony Wilding at Land's End off to John o' Groats

4.
Richard Elloway, having completed the return trip using a senior bus-pass "without paying a penny".

Chancellor of the Exchequer
–
The office is a British Cabinet-level position. The chancellor is responsible for all economic and financial matters, equivalent to the role of Secretary of the Treasury or Minister of Finance in other nations. The position is considered one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor of the Exchequer is now always Second Lord of the Treasur

1.
Incumbent George Osborne since 12 May 2010

2.
Arms of Her Majesty's Government

3.
Budget box or Gladstone box, c. 1860

4.
John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners

Anarchy
–
Anarchy is the condition of a society, entity, group of people, or a single person that rejects hierarchy. The term originally meant leaderlessness, but in 1840, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon adopted the term in his treatise What Is Property, to refer to a new political philosophy, anarchism, which advocates stateless societies based on voluntary associat

3.
Nestor Makhno (1918), the leader of the Anarchist Free Territory in Ukraine during the Russian Civil War.

Militia
–
For instance, the members of some U. S. Army National Guard units are considered professional soldiers, as they are trained to maintain the same standards as their full-time counterparts. Militias thus can be military or paramilitary, depending on the instance, some of the contexts in which the term militia is used include, Forces engaged in defens

1.
The Lexington Minuteman, a statue commemorating Captain John Parker, a commander of Massachusetts militia forces during the American Revolutionary War.

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Peshmurga Kurdish Militia, cleaning weapons

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The war standard of the Imeretian militia of the Imperial Russian Army. The inscription reads in Russian and Georgian: "To the Militia of Our Faithful Imeretian People for Exceptional Courage Displayed against the Mountaineers in 1838.".

4.
Captain John Smith's 1624 map of the Somers Isles (Bermuda), showing St. George's Town and related fortifications, including the Castle Islands Fortifications with their garrisons of militiamen

Special constable
–
A special constable or special police constable is a law enforcement officer. Many police departments are complemented by a Special Constabulary which are referred to as constables or informally as specials. Special constables hold full police powers and hold the office of constable, Special Constables, as appointed under the Police Act 1901, have

1.
Variants of epaulettes used by different forces, consisting of collar number, divisional call sign, rank indicator and Special Constabulary insignia

Fascists
–
Fascism /ˈfæʃɪzəm/ is a form of radical authoritarian nationalism that came to prominence in early 20th-century Europe. The first fascist movements emerged in Italy during World War I, opposed to liberalism, Marxism, and anarchism, fascism is usually placed on the far-right within the traditional left–right spectrum. Fascists saw World War I as a r

1.
Georges Sorel

2.
Enrico Corradini

3.
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Italian modernist author of the Futurist Manifesto (1909) and later the co-author of the Fascist Manifesto (1919)

Strikebreakers
–
A strikebreaker is a person who works despite an ongoing strike. Strikebreakers are usually individuals who are not employed by the prior to the trade union dispute. Strikebreakers may also refer to workers who cross picket lines to work, strikebreakers are employed worldwide, often occurring wherever workers go on strike or engage in related actio

1.
Pinkerton agents escort strikebreakers in Buchtel, Ohio, 1884

2.
Strikebreakers outside the Chicago Tribune during a 1986 strike

Flying Scotsman (train)
–
The Flying Scotsman is an express passenger train service that has operated between Edinburgh and London, the capitals of Scotland and England via the East Coast Main Line. The service began in 1862, but it wasnt until 1924 that the name was officially adopted and it is currently operated by Virgin Trains East Coast. In 1860 the three established t

1.
British Railways Poster celebrating the centenary of the Flying Scotsman. The locomotives shown are a GNR Stirling Single and a Class 55 'Deltic'.

4.
The Palace of Whitehall by Hendrick Danckerts c. 1660–1679. Viewed from the west side of St. James's Park, the "House at the Back" is on the far right; the octagonal building next to it is the Cockpit.

1.
Clockwise from top left: Chinese forces in the Battle of Wanjialing, Australian 25-pounder guns during the First Battle of El Alamein, German Stuka dive bombers on the Eastern Front in December 1943, a U.S. naval force in the Lingayen Gulf, Wilhelm Keitel signing the German Instrument of Surrender, Soviet troops in the Battle of Stalingrad

2.
The League of Nations assembly, held in Geneva, Switzerland, 1930

3.
Adolf Hitler at a German National Socialist political rally in Weimar, October 1930

4.
Italian soldiers recruited in 1935, on their way to fight the Second Italo-Abyssinian War

2.
Plaque on a building near Gladstone Court Museum, Biggar, South Lanarkshire which was opened by MacDiarmid in 1968. The inscription reads "Let the lesson be - to be yersel's and to mak' that worth bein'"

2.
A split leap executed by an acro dancer. This is one of several types of leaps found in dance.

3.
A dog jumping from a stationary position

4.
A bullfrog skeleton, showing elongate limb bones and extra joints. Red marks indicate bones substantially elongated in frogs, and joints that have become mobile. Blue indicates joints and bones that have not been modified, or are only somewhat elongated.